St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in the early years, are proud to attend this welcoming and caring school. They form positive, respectful relationships with staff and with each other. Through their roles as ambassadors and beacons, pupils delight in helping others.

They said that the school is a happy, positive place where everyone is welcome.

The school has embedded routines and expectations that help pupils to behave well in lessons, at social times and when moving around the school. Pupils are polite and considerate.

They relish in opportunities to find out more about the wider world. For instance, pupils enjoy engaging with trusted members of the local communit...y and finding out about different religions. Pupils celebrate and value diversity.

Pupils are encouraged to follow their interests and to develop further their talents. They attend a range of clubs, including choir, cookery and football. Pupils enjoy taking part in local performances and sporting competitions.

The school has high expectations of what all pupils can achieve, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff support pupils well to remember the knowledge that they need for future learning. As a result, pupils typically live up to the school's expectations and they achieve well across the curriculum.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils benefit from a broad, ambitious and interesting curriculum. This curriculum is delivered well by staff to enable pupils to build up their knowledge securely through small, well-ordered steps. This enables pupils to achieve well.

Staff use the information that they gather from their checks on pupils' learning to identify any missing knowledge that pupils may have. This helps staff to make any necessary changes to subsequent learning.

In most subjects, the school has a clear overview of how well pupils are learning the curriculum from the early years to Year 6.

This helps the school to ensure that the curriculums in these subjects are preparing pupils well for the next stage of their learning. However, in a small number of subjects, the school is less clear about how well children's learning in the early years is preparing them for future learning.

Children in the early years, including two-year olds, are supported to feel safe and secure by nurturing staff.

Children in the Nursery class enjoy joining in with rhymes and storytelling. In their play, children confidently use the new vocabulary that the school has taught them. Children's communication and language skills develop well over time.

The school promotes a love of reading right from the start of the Nursery class. Pupils of all ages enjoy the stories that staff read to them. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy taking books home to share with their families.

Pupils in key stage 2 said that reading opens them up to a new world, enabling them to imagine that they are there.

The school's phonics programme helps pupils to learn sounds and letters quickly from the start of the Reception class. Staff receive training to ensure that they have the expertise to teach the phonics programme effectively.

The books that pupils read are well-matched to their phonics knowledge. This supports pupils to develop their fluency and confidence in reading. Those pupils who need extra support with their reading receive it quickly.

Pupils achieve well in reading, including those with SEND.

Staff identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND quickly. The school works effectively with a range of professionals and parents and carers to ensure that pupils with SEND receive the help that they need to progress well through the curriculum.

These pupils achieve similarly well to other pupils in school.

The attendance of all pupils is a high priority for the school. Most pupils have high rates of attendance.

The school engages well with parents to support pupils to attend school regularly. The school's work to improve the attendance of those pupils who do not attend as regularly as they should is having a positive impact over time.

Pupils develop positive attitudes to their learning.

They concentrate diligently in lessons and persevere when they find things difficult. Pupils are proud of their achievements and they were keen to share these with staff and with visitors.

The school supports pupils' personal development through a range of experiences designed to develop their interests and aspirations.

Pupils learn about the importance of equality and diversity in age-appropriate ways and this helps them to broaden their understanding of the wider world. The school also supports pupils to develop their awareness of their community. For instance, pupils pick up litter in the local area and take part in community events such as Remembrance Sunday.

The school has considered the implications for staff's workload when introducing changes to the curriculum. Staff are given the training and support that they require to carry out their roles effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the school does not have a clear enough overview of how well children in the early years are learning. This makes it more difficult for the school to check that the curriculum in these subjects is preparing children sufficiently well for the next stage of their education. The school should ensure that it has a well-developed understanding of how successfully the curriculum in each subject is preparing children for their next steps.

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